Monday, August 13, 2012

I struggle to come up with anything positive to say about
today’s ride not because there wasn’t anything positive, but because there was
one overwhelming negative; terrible roads. I may be partly to blame because I
chose to divert fro the Adventure Cycling route I the hope of reducing mileage
significantly. Their route would have had me on secondary and tertiary roads
typical of those I traveled yesterday, so I opted to follow US 17 Alternate to
Moncks Corner.

I can’t adequately explain how terrible most of the 70+ miles
were. Narrow roads with no shoulders. Shoulders that were incredibly rough.
Miles of grooved roadway waiting to be paved. Heat. Heavy traffic. Basically
the worst possible conditions short of a blinding rain storm.

And the positives? Summerville was attractive.. A carload of
young people stopped at a light next to me wanted to know how fast, how far and
why. Hardees biscuits for breakfast.

This whole journey is a challenge and challenges aren’t
supposed to be easy, are they?